A Golarion Take on a Red Hand of Doom Journal

[Arkain]

After a lot of problems, it is finally time, the Red Hand of Doom has risen again to terrorize the people of Elsir Vale. This time, the story takes place in Golarion, Isger to be precise. Let's have a journal and see how this plays out, shall we?


Characters

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Abimelech, half-elf Cleric of Pharasma. Focused on healing and channeling. When he isn’t bringing down the wrath of Pharasma on the undead, the well-traveled Abi is an ingenious cook on the lookout for his elven mother. Unfortunately dropped out for the time being after session 2.

Abnoba, halfling Hooded Champion Ranger. Very knowledgeable about goblins, serves as the party’s scout. Brought up in the family’s apothecary business, Abonba has grown quite fond of nature and developed skills far beyond mere herbalism. She is accompanied by the cougar Rasputin.

Hisoka, human Sacred Huntsmaster Inquisitor of Erastil. Of Tian-Min descent, he gracefully wields the ancient family katana, accompanied by the stag Pan. Much like Abnoba, he feels quite at home in the wilds. Knows many things about all kinds of creatures, too.

Kiya Ahset, catfolk Eldritch Scion Magus. Partly in charge of the arcane side of magical prowess, her skills are mostly many ways to set things on fire, growing iron beards and stabbing things with her rapier.

Tsukiko, human Eldritch Scoundrel Rogue. Also of a Tian family, Tsukiko is much less interested in honor or tradition than Hisoka. A multitalented, rather outgoing fellow with a penchant for illusion magic, which makes him the party’s best infiltrator. Quite knowledgeable in matters of magic.

We were originally going to have a Summoner, too, but the player is quite busy right now, so that’s unfortunately not happening.

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Interestingly enough, two party members are not quite what they seem. Hisoka and Tsukiko are both kitsune – and neither knows the other’s secret.

Session 1

A bit of a set-up

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For a long time now, the Andoran military has been looking for exceptionally talented people, not only as mere recruits to their ranks, but possibly something much more. A handful of such talented individuals find themselves in front of the Golden Cathedral in the capital city of Almas this day.

It does not take them long to recognize that they might have something in common, namely that they do seem a bit out of place, rather well equipped and armed, two are even being accompanied by wild animals and so it comes that Abi, Abnoba, Hisoka, Kiya and Tsukiko get to know each other. Kiya in particular is intrigued by the stag Pan, having never seen one in either her travels or her jungle home. Abi, meanwhile, has no idea what to make of the curious Kiya, unaware that she’s catfolk. Before long, a member of the Eagle Knights greets them. After a short identification, they are led inside. The building seems rather heavily guarded, but maybe that is just normal, who knows?

After a good while of waiting, official procedures and more waiting they finally get to meet their commanding officer, one general Massey. The man is difficult to read though his hair seems much like purple feathers, the marking of an aasimar, as some of the party recognize. And he is not alone, for a rather important Andoran politician also graces them with his presence: Codwin I., (former) Supreme Elect. They are greeted and Massey rather wishes to get to the heart of things. Spread over a couple tables lie several maps of the Inner Sea. Two such maps are of interest to the party, one featuring the nation of Isger, vassal state of Cheliax and another one with a more detailed look at one of the south eastern regions of Isger, the so called Elsir Vale.

A brief history lesson follows. Abnoba and Tsukiko know of Isger already, Hisoka also has the slightest clue. However, nothing stops Massey from talking at length about the Goblinblood Wars and the unlikely alliance of Andoran, Cheliax and Druma. Long story short, somebody from Isger has reached out and told Andoran of rather worrying developments. The military suspects that there might be a resurgence of the Goblinblood Wars or, even worse to the rather unambiguously prejudiced Massey, a Chelaxian plot of some sort. However, there might be a chance to not only foil such a plot, but to hurt Cheliax rather severely. As such, a small, mobile group of capable people will be sent out to support the city of Brindol’s plea for help, as well as scout the Elsir Vale. If they agree to the mission, they will be outfitted and paid well. While Abi’s understanding of the situation (despite his former ignorance of all the context) is quite good, Abnoba realizes there might be more to this. Particularly with their being required to donate hairs or other bodily parts (blatantly stated to be for both divination and, if so desired, “resurrection purposes”) they are most of all expendable, as this is a covert rather than an official operation.

Massey finally asks if the group is up for it, to which everybody agrees – except Kiya who could not care less. Unfortunately, she is not good at bluffing, while Massey is quite good at reading people. He begins questioning and pressuring her until Codwin intervenes and defuses the situation. The group is dismissed and told to see an officer about the divination part and then to stay ready until preparations to cross borders are complete.

As some of the group conceived of the not so brilliant notion to trick the military by giving them “animal hairs or whatever”, they are not overly thrilled to realize that the diviner will meet them in person and cut of a lock of hair personally (alternatively, he offers to take a beloved item, such as a favorite piece of clothing, which nobody agrees to…). Tsukiko drops his pants and “gives a urine sample”. You see, because… right, moving on. The officer stays calm and just presses on. The animal companions are not too fond of the man with a pair of scissors, but even they get a few hairs cut off them by their respective partners after a short consideration, just to be on the save side.

A few more idle days spent in blissful peace go by far too quickly in the big city, as the group gets to know each other a bit more. Tsukiko ends up using a lot of this time to copy a good amount of spells to his spellbook, while Kiya “educates” Abi on catfolk. Like how they hatch out of eggs. He takes a lot of notes.

Before long they are summoned back before Massey and somebody else they’ve not seen until now, a man in red robes, who introduces himself as Immerstal the Red. Unfortunately, nobody has ever heard of the guy, even though he was quite sure they must have. Anyhow, he bids the party to form a circle and hold hands and most importantly to not disrupt his precious concentration. Kiya really wants to poke him just because. Thankfully, she does not. Teleport.

We’re not in Kansas anymore

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Everybody ends up safe and sound in front of a huge stone building in an unfamiliar city. The group is to have a meeting with a couple important people soon, which Immerstal is supposed to chaperone them to, but first they want to have a peek inside his home and shop, which he is all too eager to provide. The inside is… sparkly, with all kinds of goodies. They are also greeted by an Osirian woman introducing herself as Alandri. Abnoba and Tsukiko have heard of it, but mostly know it is really far away, which Abi, who’s been there before (yay, background stories?) addresses. Seems there was an opportunity to be had here and the two went for it, setting up shop quite literally. Anyhow, Tsukiko decides to “vomit on the floor”, at which point I intervene and ask the player if she really wants to do this. She refrains, rather, Tsukiko wants to take a look at Immerstal’s arcane library… and so they disappear for a good long while. Finally, the two remember that there was something they were supposed to do and everybody heads over to Brindol Keep.

To make matters short, its fancy, the masonry is fancy, the interior is fancy, probably even the guards are absurdly fancy somehow. Waiting for them are three people, one a man sporting a goatee and a rather peculiar symbol around his neck. The others are another man and a woman with peculiarly golden looking hair, who the group realizes might be another aasimar. They, too, wear obvious symbols round their necks, all three are identified as belonging to Abadar, Sarenrae and… Mammon. After a short recap who those are, the group is welcomed by one Lord Jarmaath, apparently faithful of Abadar, who introduces the others as Lady Tredora and Turio Vraath, with a certain antagonistic vibe towards the latter, who seems to have forced himself into this meeting somehow. Just as we are about to go into the actual plot details the internet of Abi’s player crashes and does not come back for the evening, so we decide to make a cut right there.

Thoughts

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You know, despite all this text, nothing much happened. It is the usual start where the group meets, a hint of a plot reveals itself and then everything goes nowhere in terms of action, but everywhere in terms of background and talking, which I do not mind, really.

To briefly comment on the characters, we are using the automated bonus progression rules, but particularly since most people are quite new to all of this, I have decided to use 11000 for equipment, chosen by myself unless a player desired to it themselves (nobody did). Narratively, I have turned this into a partly their own, partly military equipment kind of thing. Hopefully, this will be sufficient to see them through most of the adventure, as a lot of loot will be mundane weapons, armor and consumables.

So, people familiar with RHoD are probably wondering something here. Brindol already? Yep, Brindol already. In a sense, I am doing this a bit backwards. The group will first meet some people in Brindol, be informed of plot-related things there and then ultimately move westwards. Hopefully, this will serve to establish the setting a bit more and allow for subplots to seem a bit less random. I also feel this leads to a less random “safe the convenient big city” kind of situation near the end, when you already know said city, maybe even have some stakes there. What annoys me here is that about five seconds after starting I realized that I might as well have started the party off as people from the vale, members of the Lions of Brindol, say. Now this seems needlessly convoluted. I also feel I messed up a bit with the NPC name-dropping there, but things are as they are now. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

On the metalevel I am slightly annoyed by the players of Kiya and Tsukiko. The former upfront said she was in it only for the lulz, which I took to mean easy-going kinda play, not too serious etc. The latter is a first-time player, which I welcome, of course. Both have in this session basically been fishmalks, to a degree that was not only disruptive here and there, but I feel that in a narrative sense, I would rather have had to kick them out of the plot for behaving the way they did. Of course, you cannot plan a thing for all eternity and then kick out about half of the party in the first hour or so, particularly a first-time player. Not sure how this will go on to be honest, I just hope that both are simply trying to find their way(s) of playing, otherwise we will have to have The Talk.

[Arkain]

Session 2

The game is afoot

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In a wonderful twist of fate, everybody is a bit late to the party and basically the same moment we are finally about to continue where we last left, internet troubles strike again – and Abi leaves us. It becomes clear he will not return for the evening, so we press on after a while.

Last time we stopped just after the introductory sentences, so things are repeated and Hisoka steps forward, trying his best at courtly culture and manners. Lady Tredora is slightly flattered. Pleasantries are exchanged, if minimally and the party is finally introduced to the actual problem that seem to plague Brindol and the Elsir Vale. Sounds paradoxical, but this mostly takes the form of a somewhat monologic seeming polylogue, where Lord Jarmaath delivers most of the exposition, with the occasional interruption and sideglances by Turio in particular, plus some questions asked by the party.

For a while now, Brindol has subtly pushed towards a separation from Cheliax, as in the wake of the Goblinblood Wars, Cheliax has shown itself rather uncaring of the plights of the Isgerian people. Fortunately, the Elsir Vale is so far out that nobody ever much cared to enforce Chelish doctrine, even the openly devout (if to Mammon) Turio seems to be in, if he can strike a good bargain. The goal is to either declare proper independence or to at least ally with Andoran and/or other nations to such a degree that Elsir Vale might be accepted as a sovereign state of its own. The party seems to represent Andoran’s covert attempts at making it happen.

However, problems plague the area. Recently, reports of raider groups have grown to a worrying degree. Of note is that whilst raiders are not necessarily rare in Isger, many of these groups seemed to include goblinoids or other “monstrous” creatures. This comes at a bit of an unfortunate time, as Brindol, has very little manpower to spare right now and thus cannot properly reach out and help the communities further out in the vale. They have sent one of the Lions to investigate, but nothing has come of it yet. To make matters worse, there are rumors of ever more undead in the area – and knowing Pathfinder, this seems not unlikely at all if people are murdered by raiders and left to rot without proper rites, for starters.

In addition, the capital’s bright idea to set the Chitterwood ablaze as imitated in the vale, burning a lot of the local forests as well. Most if not all communities had managed to stay in tune with the old ways, achieving a rather balanced way of life with the local druids and forest creatures. Even a local aranea colony was in good relations with Brindols, trading for silk. Burning the forests all but destroyed these relations. The woods (or what is left of them) have become dangerous and the druids have withdrawn to the forests. The harsh climate is not making it easier for the farmers, who had previously received help by house spirits and other fey, as well as having their fields blessed by druids.

The fey in particular seem to receive a lot of blame, as they are supposedly apathetic at best and outright antagonistic or aggressive at worst. There also seems to have been a surprising amount of changeling births in the recent years, as well as tieflings. The changelings in particular got accused for being “part fey” (which some party members realize is completely wrong) and most have left Brindol at this point. In addition to this, most of the city’s gnomes have also left with the resident anti-fey sentiments (and this time, it is not even all wrong!).

Hisoka is not quite sure what to make of all that and engages in a bit of a debate with Turio, who eagerly speaks of inquisitor Amery’s valiant efforts to preserve civilization and push back the vile hordes by torching the forest. As nobody in the party knows anything about noble families, they only notice that Turio seems really invigorated about this topic. Hisoka eventually decides to “agree to disagree”, growing ever more agitated by Turio’s ranting.

In short, the Elsir Vale could try for independence, if only from Cheliax, but has a lot of problems right now – there are simply not enough PC level people around that the city could spare and if there really is trouble at the horizon, Brindol might need every able fighter available. The group’s job is thus to serve as both an expert scouting as well as problem solving party. As there are fears that he Goblinblood Wars might repeat themselves, they are to find out how things are and try their best at preventing escalation. Of note is the community of Drellin’s Ferry, who have reached out directly and asked for help. It is however very far to the west, so the group would have to hike there for a few days.

This is roughly when Kiya’s player arrives and so the others recap for her. After everything is cleared up, the party decides to leave directly. Since not everybody might be aware of the options presented to them, I felt it necessary to point out that they had not yet heard anything from the actual people themselves and maybe something useful could be found within the city itself. Cue some of the poorest party wide rolls to gather information, ever, even though most are technically really good at this. With their results, they mostly only find out that yes, the people of Brindol are really biased against “fey”, accusing them of all kinds of crimes, ranging from assault to petty pie pilfering. They do learn though that there are some rather big temples in the city, most prominently Pharasma and Sarenrae. In a combined shrine the group even stumbles upon Milani besides Desna and Erastil.

Rather dissatisfied with the results, Tsukiko proposes to grab Abi from his “weirdo undead sect” and the group presses on. First plans were to move north to Witchcross, a small community rather close to the Witchwood, but they ultimately decide to simply head straight towards Drellin’s Ferry. Fortunately, they did ask for means of communications and get handed an almost spent wand of Sending. Their first stop on the way is a small town called Talar. Trying for information again, they mostly learn the same things as before and that the town’s leader is one Lady Celiira Nesten – lots of noble rulers around these parts, it seems. We end the session there.

Thoughts

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Words. Words. Words.

I rather disliked that this turned into mostly me speaking, but that is how things go sometimes. At least everything is hopefully established now. As you might notice, I am going for a more political narrative here. On the one hand you have Cheliax and Andoran with Isger (and the Elsir Vale) inbetween. On the other hand, you have the Elsir Vale trying to establish itself, by changing and moving on towards a better future, but a grievous past still casts its shadows over the endeavor.

As a third faction besides the current and The Old Ways I hope to make a good point with the Red Hand as an opposing force that is much more radical. The point here is much less an evil army serving an evil god doing evil things, but rather that after the first Goblinblood Wars, the “monsters” are quite fed up with their lives in the wilds and have decided to conquer if the alternative is hiding or getting shot on sight. Of course, the decision to take the religious aspect out came way before half the group went “Yeah, I’m, gonna play a priest kinda character after all”… And as I said in the session 1 addendum, it kind of seems a bit convoluted now, but I did not want to flip everything over and rewrite it again.

That said, you know when you prepare half a dozen subplots for the group to discover and spend time on only for them to ignore everything and go straight for the main objective? *screams internally* I am wondering if my presentation skills are lacking here, actually (I was not in the best of shapes that day, either). While I would have liked them going for Witchcross, as I eyed it briefly and thought “Lead by druids AND close to the Witchwood, marvel- nevermind, they’re going elsewhere”. Now I should come up with something more interesting than just briefly going over towns and going into the marauder ambush. Strangely enough, the group seems a bit disinterested as well, saying that if it is too much of a “bother” I could just skip over the journey. Of course, part of the exercise for me is to get better at narrating travel, so… eh?

Interestingly, the players make a lot of the “being watched” part from the first session, which I even stated to be merely for narrative reasons, as it makes a degree of sense, so maybe it was not all bad to do it that way?

I also got to figure out how I want to go about the timeline and travel distances now. Originally, I was going to play it by ear and officially start the timeline either in Drellin’s Ferry or after the Koth fight (when I would at the latest reveal that a timer is on), but maybe if the distance is only like two days a bit of travel to and fro might be interesting.

Most unfortunately, Abi’s player has decided that online play is not for him and dropped out for the time being. On the plus-side, I might just drop the entire undead-thing now, which was mainly for him anyhow… Still, I am a bit bothered, as he was barely there due to technical difficulties, but I know very well that online play truly is not for everyone. On a more meta level I am hugely bothered because this means the only primary caster and dedicated healer is out of the equation and my entire encounter planning is off by even more now.

[Arkain]

Took a couple weeks, but we finally got to play again. Unfortunately, Tsukiko’s player basically immediately dropped out the moment we began, due to internet troubles. Oh, what fun this is! Seemed as if there would be no improvement anytime soon, so we pressed on with her blessing. Had to control two player characters that session, how lovely.

Session 3

Walking man’s road

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Last time the group travelled to Talar, the first city on the way to Drellin’s Ferry. Seems also rather against fey and other forest creatures, much like the sentiments in Brindol. Seeing no point in lingering too long or seeking audience with the ruling Lady, the group seeks shelter in an inn and asks around for some more info regarding the way. The usual things, stay on the road, it is a dangerous, war-wrecked country etc. Repeat the same thing for the next city, Nimon Gap. Although Tsukiko does find out that this small hamlet seems more in tune with nature and the “old ways” (i.e. not as anti—fey, attempted harmony with nature and its creatures). Seems as if the empty road is also a bit unexpected, as a trader was supposed to have come by already.

Anyway, pressing on, past the Nimon Hills the group finds themselves in a drier climate than before, but they have been warned. As they did not decide to stay wait for too long in Nimon Gap, they travelled a good distance and decide to camp the night out like three fourths the way to Terrelton. Everybody gets their guard positions, but fortunately nothing happens. Only the rustling of animals here and there, or maybe the wind, who knows? Abnoba considers how goblinoids favor ambushes – better safe than sorry.

Terrelton turns out rather unpleasant, as the tanneries are harsh on the noses of Kiya and the animal companions. Still, a short stop reveals a certain trader called Miranda was expected a while ago and a bit of asking around about Drellin’s Ferry indicates it to be rather mandatory pass, due to the Elsir River, as opposed to the settlements they came through, which rather just happen to be alongside the road. Maybe the merchants there will have some good business for the group? Anyways, they ought to not go into the woods, for there lies danger, supposedly even some haunted keep!
The stink helps motivate the group to move on quickly to the final stretch to Drellin’s Ferry. Every now and then the group comes across destroyed, desolate buildings in the distance. Seems like nobody has ever returned here. Yet, in the distance, a bit off the road, smoke rises. Somebody to ask for directions, information, or food, maybe? No reason not to investigate, it is not too far off the road, after all. However, there is a severe difference the further they stray from it, much wilder surroundings, only a trail path, that kind of thing. Time for perception – which nobody passes. However, everybody takes note of something: the smoke comes from a house. A ruined one, at that. Weird...

Initiative!

Marauder attack

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Good thing the hobgoblins got a surprise round, as the group is lightning fast, whereas the hobgoblins are all a bit on the slow side. Anyhow, as Hisoka is in front and looks somewhat threatening-leader-like, he gets greeted by six arrows, about four of which hit, one a critical hit (which I calculated incorrectly as only double damage, as I notice next turn). Ouch! Turns out half a dozen hobgoblins have been hiding themselves in the trees.

The first rounds are not too fascinating. The group tries to retaliate, misses some shots, the no longer flatfooted basically completely dex-oriented group is missed a bit in return, the works. Abi casts Prayer, which benefits Abnoba greatly. Tsukiko apparently multiplies and then disappears for good measure, popping in and out in places to shoot cold, lightning, fire and such into unprepared hobgoblin faces. Kiya, meanwhile has set off to set hobgoblins and foliage on fire. After a short while though, the group notices that two more hobgoblins are sneaking towards the combat scene, one wielding two blades and one not too martial looking, with a snake on her.

The latter moves forwards and promptly blesses almost all hobgoblins. Caster (Shaman, to be precise), damn! Hisoka and Pan move up to her, which the other promptly uses as an invitation to run up to Hisoka and twirl her blades in his general direction, one of which hits. Poor Hisoka. Abi has moved up and channeled some energy (unfortunately also hitting some hobgoblins, as Selective Channeling only goes so far…) to heal Hisoka up. Fateful Channel’s rerolls certainly help, including some of the regulars. The already badly hurt shaman sees herself a bit outnumbered. A quick retreat and opportunity attack by an angry deer later, she finds herself a bit backed into a corner, with Tsukiko appearing out of nowhere with some lightning to the face. Down to 2 hp in basically one round, whelp! She drinks an invisibility potion next and disappears for the rest of the fight.

Uth-Lar continues her fight with Hisoka and Pan, who are rather annoyed at not getting any flanking, despite obviously flanking her. She is in some defensive stance, apparently. Tries her best, too, but fortunately for Hisoka, her blades miss most of the time (particularly counters) and she goes down. Would have died though, if the crits had been confirmed, so who is gonna argue?
The others have mostly dealt with the regulars already, though one is currently screaming manically, as he flails around on the ground, trying to extinguish the fire. Kiya keeps stabbing him for good measure. They are all mostly dead already, too, having fallen out of trees in the deep negatives after being mauled by an angry cougar or hit expertly by our little archer – who was really lucky, as the natural twenties seemed to keep coming when she was attacked, but the crits were never confirmed.

Reinforcements arrive and seeing the carnage, no shaman anywhere and a downed bladebearer rather takes the fight out of them before it has begun. However, Uth-Lar miraculously regains consciousness and quickly downs a healing potion, so back to it, lest they face consequences. Most of the group has arrived at the scene by now and whilst the hobgoblins do land some blows on Hisoka, Abi’s healing every round proves rather useful and most of them go down quickly. Kiya has at this point tried to stab the still prone Uth-Lar, but the latter negated her attack, leaving her a bit dumbfounded. She used the opportunity to nimbly escape into the foliage. Abi gives chase, but to no avail.

Seeing their leader fleeing, the remaining two hobgoblin regulars flee. One just tries his best at getting away, the last gives some colorful insults in Goblin (which are understood this time, thanks to Abnoba) and swings his sword feebly at Hisoka before he also runs. He does not go down from the attacks of opportunity and stumbles away, the group deciding to not go after them (or shoot them in the back). The group then decides that maybe it would be best to quench the flames started by Kiya, lest they start a second forest burning or some such. A single hobgoblin regular might actually not be burned to a crisp, have their throat torn out or other lovely things, but whether they will try to save her is up to debate, as we end the session here.

Thoughts

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Unfortunate that we essentially lost a player for the session, but that is how things go, I am afraid. I did spend some time developing subplots for the settlements on the way to Drellin’s Ferry, but as kind of expected, the group decided to press on. Good thing that I did not go all in there this time around. Seems like everybody felt the travel bits were okay in themselves, so I am kind of happy with that.

Finally some action. I decided to use a life/battle Shaman for this battle, as I had originally planned to tone down the Tiamat/Dahak angle, so I statted clerics, warpriests, shamans and alchemists, depending on what I want. but totally forgot about her life link ability – all the better, as it might have killed her to use it. Bladebearers are, for the time being, PoW Myrmidon Fighters, and it was fun to use this for a change. People aware of the encounter design might be wondering about the hellhounds. I scrapped them, not only to lessen the angle of infernal mingling, but also because I did not think it served what I wanted to show here. Also, I read in other journals that they are not impressive anyhow. Judging from short player feedback, the ludo-narrative level worked out nicely, successfully demonstrating that the Red Hand is quite organized and well trained, particularly due to the use of teamwork feats. By the way, every single hobgoblin soldier has Stealth Synergy, so there will be some fun sneaky times ahead, I think.

A bit unsure whether I got what I wanted from it mechanically, as part of this was a testing ground to make people more familiar with how Roll20 works for these things and to find out how strong the group is, except I had to play two characters myself AND the group forgot about half their abilities. Kiya never used her arcane pool and neither animal focus nor bane were used by Hisoka/Pan – I forgot about those myself, admittedly, but I feel it is harder to gauge from raw potential how things can go. I also decided to keep Abi around, after consulting with the player what the character would do, to have a healer to fall back on, until around after Vraath Keep, I think. I have warned the group that he will not be there for much longer though and it will not be getting easier, so I am curious how it all plays out. Hisoka might have been in mortal danger if not died without him, to be honest. Rerolls and healing together via Fateful Channel are pretty powerful.

In terms of narrative, there are two regulars on the run, a pretty bummed out bladebearer might hold a grudge and a rather lost shaman is also sneaking away whilst her invisibility yet lasts (she did indeed sit right in the middle of the map until the very last round). Whether any one of them will be tracked down is something for next session, but I feel it offers a lot of potential. I wanted a bladebearer, though probably not a TWF one, in Vraath Keep anyway, so maybe a rematch there might be nice. Or the hobgoblins could try to track the group down, who knows?

Since Tsukiko’s player, for whom this is most interesting, was not around I could also not yet discuss something I had forgotten for a while: the matter of invisibility and spellcasting – as per PF1 rules, spellcasting is always flashy, but that kind of makes the invisibility part a bit moot, so I will put it to a vote if we roll with it or make subtle casting possible.

I definitely need to organize myself better though, scrolling through my documents for stats and not having all the maneuvers at the ready for Uth-Lar was a huge waste of time.

[Arkain]

Session 4

Tsukiko’s player has left the group, rather unhappy with whole online play situation. Not that I think this might change anytime soon, with the global pandemic and all that. We started with six players, down to three now.

Cleaning up

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We begin right where we left off, the group has successfully defeated a bit over a dozen of hobgoblin soldiers, an apparent leader figure having run off to the woods, whilst the other has turned invisible a couple combat rounds ago. The group then decides to quench the fires started by Kiya, who feigns complete innocence in setting anything (or anyone) ablaze and to stabilize the one hobgoblin who did not die by lovely things such as breaking their neck falling from a tree or burning alive. Meanwhile, everyone rolls perception to notice the sneaking, invisible shaman and surprisingly, it almost works. Almost. So after everything is said and done, let the looting proceed – gold from the house and a couple more corpses. A few young people with some minor armor, a middle-aged woman, and an old man. Great, just what everybody needed. The hobgoblins’ corpses are only roughly examined, though they seem to keep their gear in good shape, even rocking some vials filled with… something, which will later turn out to be healing potions.

Now that everything seems taken care of (I am a bit surprised nobody went the route of looting every single sword or armor, honestly), the area proper is investigated thoroughly. Seems like there has been a wagon involved recently, which was turned around and went back towards the road. Seems as if the dead people have also are also not been dead for equal amounts of time, with the whole ruined farm used as a makeshift camp and hiding place. Grave news to bring to Drellin’s Ferry, thus the group ties the surviving hobgoblin up and heals her back to consciousness before pressing on. After she comes to, she does not say a word. Abi, meanwhile, stays behind, to give the corpses a proper burial, being a priest of Pharasma and all. Tsukiko also stays.

Drellin’s Ferry

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Normally, getting into Drellin’s Ferry is not difficult at all, however, the group’s prisoner is causing a bit of a ruckus, causing Hersk to call for Soranna. The situation is quickly explained, though and the party is taken to Speaker Norris. He proceeds to explain the situation once more and whilst discussing their previous scuffle, Soranna decides to set out with a few militia members to look at the scene (and corpses) herself. The group gets the bright idea that maybe it is not optimal, then, that two of them are currently literally burying the bodies. Better go fast, then. It will later turn out that the woman is Miranda, who had left Drellin’s Ferry a short while ago with her merchandise and was expected in the settlements along the road. The others turn out to be a local farmer and Miranda’s guards.

Anyhow, the situation is once again explained all over again: Drellin’s Ferry is facing constant threats, they do not have the numbers (especially of sufficiently talented people) to really fight back and thus called out for help. The group is also told they are not the first, as a scouting party has also been sent by Brindol, but have not yet returned. All the usual things discussed (we all know the drill by now), the party decides to interrogate their prisoner the next day and settles down in a nearby inn. Some join the card games in the back, but unfortunately, nobody wins. Meanwhile, Hisoka sneaks out to check the mansion the town’s wizard is said to reside in, which is supposedly haunted.

He does so disguised, though Sertieren does not seem surprised at all to find a fox knocking at his door. Turns out he knows very well what Hisoka is. They discuss the issue a bit over a cup of tea, also revealing that the “haunted” mansion is mostly just maintained by a small wizard who uses lots of magic to clean and move things about. He does offer to sell some potions or scrolls if the party requires aid, but for the time being, nothing is purchased. Nothing else happens, really, besides Abi and Tsukiko arriving with the militia.

Interrogation

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The next morning, our heroes make their way to the toll house, where their prisoner is held for interrogation. Kiya begins, going for “Do you have friends? Where are they and many?” … and with that the interrogation is over already, as I imagined and played Nisa (not that anyone will ever bother to ask for her name) as a harsh and serious type who does not take them seriously anymore. It kind of goes like this:

“How many of you are there?”
“As many as there are grains of sand.”
“Where are they?”
“Everywhere.”
“Why did you attack us?”
“Why did you?”
“No really, why?”
“Self-defense.”

It is lovely, really, and yields nothing of value whatsoever. Besides the implicit question who is interrogating whom at this point some “perspective” is gained when Nisa raises the point that they had merely posted guards, as one does, asking if the group ever set up a night watch while camping, in case “goblins” attack. Which they have literally done on their way to Drellin’s Ferry. Nisa rants a bit about the apparent need to be careful about “goblins”, best to kill them on the spot and set their burrows alight. You know, kind of what has happened during the Goblinblood Wars. She also flats out tells them that she expects to be killed anyhow after they have what they want. Not helping that Kiya offers to torture her (good alignment, obviously), but is a bit distraught that Nisa is barely clinging to consciousness (i.e. positive HP) as is.

Finally, Abnoba offers some privacy by speaking in Goblin. Turns out that if there have been any attempts of goblinoid diplomacy, the messengers have all been killed on the spot. Not surprising, given the current fear and hate of goblinkind, but certainly not helpful either. The talk concludes with Nisa mocking them a bit, telling them to go into the Witchwood if they dare. Maybe Karkilan (“strong as an ox”) will kill them or maybe something else. She is certain they will not last, at any rate. Our heroes set out a bit down in their moods, looking to find a druid who has been said to live on the other side of the river. Hisoka does cast a healing spell on Nisa first, though, which leaves her a bit confused.

Into the green

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The trip to the other side of town is thankfully pleasant, if slow and asking for directions in the brewery earns the group a friendly welcome and refreshments. In the outskirts, they find Avarthel amongst “the Old Ones”.

Seems as if he has not quite yet given up on people, unlike many of his brothers and sisters, and tries to help the townsfolk when he is needed. They talk a bit, about perspectives and politics. Turns out that hearing all “sides” first might be key to solving this crisis, rather than just raising hell whenever goblinoids enter the picture. He also tells the group how much the Green has suffered, all kinds of fey, plants and animals consumed by the flames. Finally, the group hears again about Amerys Vraath and his keep. To make it short, a rather ambitious Asmodean inquisitor of Chelaxian noble house Vraath who used his power to wage his own little war against “savagery” during the Goblinblood Wars, culminating in burning down portions of the forests, mimicking what has happened with the Chitterwood. The result was that the forest struck back, with giants and fey leading the assault. The keep has been in ruins ever since, supposedly haunted.

Looks like as good a clue as any, despite the supposed danger. The offer of buying some druidic supplies is declined and after some more talk with Speaker Norris, our heroes decide to head into the Witchwood. Supposedly, someone lives there who might know his way around, too, if they need help.

Thoughts

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No real action here, but I must admit I rather liked the roleplaying. And whilst I do not wish to digress into mere relativism, I think some of the themes I am interested in have been conveyed here. I am curious about Nisa’s fate when the horde comes to Drellin’s Ferry. There could be quite some interesting developments here.

That said, is it just me or are interrogations always completely dichotomous in P&P? At least as far as the groups I have been part of are concerned they either work out completely in favor of the group instantly or are quite the reverse, where it is clear in a sentence or two that the player characters are way too soft for the job, not being taken seriously by the interrogated ever again. Sometimes it is also the players who simply cannot quite deal with it, so I felt I had to throw them some bones there at the end.

[Arkain]

Session 5

Kiya’s player could not connect properly, so we pressed on with two players. Controlling more party members than there are active players at this point.

The Witchwood

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As it is still the middle of their second day in Drellin’s Ferry, the group does not tarry and heads towards the Witchwood. Despite technically just the two nature-oriented characters playing here, our heroes stay on the path, heading straight towards where they were told Vraath Keep awaits.

Their path is blocked by a river, spanned by a rather shoddy wooden bridge. The area is a bit too marshy for their liking, yet a bit deeper, near the riverbank a wagon piques their interest. Hisoka, Pan and Tsukiko make their way through the mire. Abnoba and Hisoka do spot what looks like a huge snake near the wagon, but what is a snake to an adventurer? As they approach, it raises its head. And another. And another. And another… seven in total. Hisoka realizes it to be a hydra, all heads hissing at him. Initiative!

No step on snek

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Bit of a problem here, as we have half a party submerged in the terrain, another half sitting on a bridge and a hydra close to the former. Hisoka gets a critical hit for a greeting, too, how nice! So what happens is that whilst Kiya and Abi support a bit via bow and cleric mojo, Hisoka and Pan struggle mightily with the terrain, as it does not at all support their usual tactics. Hisoka struggles to get out of the heads’ reach to cast Invisibility on himself. Tsukiko does his thing where he disappears, which does have the definite advantage of nobody seeing how he wades about without any grace whatsoever. Abnoba successfully convinces Rasputin (a cat, mind you) to jump into the mire with her. Belly rubs are in order, I dare say.

Tsukiko rolling a wonderful natural one on his touch attack certainly does not help matters and seven attacks leave their mark on him and Pan. Ouch. Too bad the option to reroll came basically directly aftewards. However, invisible Hisoka being able to evade the heads for a good offensive position does help, but more importantly, Kiya scores a critical hit with her bow, dealing 28 damage, well over a third of the total hydra’s hit points. It is a rather fast battle and ultimately, its fast healing allows for the hydra to weakly slither away into the river, with the group trying to take it down with ranged weapons. The dice are with them and after a bit of fast healing induced ping-ponging between various states of (un-)consciousness (poor hydra, eh?), Abnoba deals the final blow and the stream claims the hydra. Yay?

Onwards

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Having dealt with the hydra, the group turns towards the wagon and, after some struggling, manages to get it out of the mire. Seems as if the hydra had actually dragged it there. What they do find inside are two half-eaten hobgoblins (and who knows what might lie submerged in the surrounding terrain), each with remarkably high-quality equipment. Based on the state of the corpses it might very well be Miranda’s wagon, ambushed by hobgoblins who were in turn ambushed by the hydra. A couple crates and such hold trading goods, cloth, armor etc., most ruined. However, one has a couple yet unbroken potion vials. There are also scrolls, as well as a remarkably shiny breastplate, the dirt basically sliding off it without effort. Looks like some cleaning and identification are in order. The armor and consumables are sacked.

Following the road a good while longer, Abnoba climbs a tree as a vantage point and indeed, a ruined structure, complete with towers, sits in the distance. Without further ado, the group presses on, never straying from the path. With that, we end the session in the vicinity of Vraath Keep. Level up to level 6.

Thoughts

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I am a bit conflicted about the short session. On the plus-side, we did manage to get some things done, but only having two players meant I had to cut it short, lest Kiya misses out on the relevant parts, which the trek through a forest was not. Unfortunately, nobody ever strayed from the path, so no Jorr or fey goodness happening there.

I must say, I am a bit in a bind here, as I had expected the group to do… more, really. In the sense of at least checking out Jorr, even if not enlisting his help or maybe checking out more options to stock up in the Drellin’s Ferry. So I attempt to mitigate the imminent loss of player characters (at the latest after the bridge, if not after Vraath Keep) with some treasure in the wagon, though I have not yet determined what kind of consumables they have found there.

I had originally planned a level up after Vraath Keep to make the bridge less deadly, but with how things are going (my estimation for Vraath Keep after nerfing was: harsh, but possible), I will play it safe. In part, because they did let some of the marauder party escape, who returned to Vraath Keep and reported what happened, so a slight state of alert is given, plus the survivors as additional combatants. Abnoba has gained an iterative attack and picked up Manyshot, doubling her arrow output, which is probably the single most powerful boon for the group right now, so I suppose we will see?

As for the hydra battle, I might have been too cautious. The original 3.5 campaign gives a six-headed hydra as the encounter, which I had originally intended to upgrade to eight-headed, before settling for seven. Seeing how it went, nine heads might have been possible as well, but probably a bit harsh. The joys of single monster fights! However, I did get to impress upon them that yes, the woods actually are dangerous and I feel the wagon feels a bit more organic. I am a bit annoyed by the GM-controlled Kiya stealing a bit of the spotlight, but at least Abnoba got the kill. Maybe a pet peeve of mine, but I do not wish for NPCs to steal the heroes’ thunder, even if they are technically part of their party. Not that I think the players mind, usually one is happy to survive.

[Arkain]

Session 6

Still at it with two players, as Kiya’s player has left for the foreseeable future.

Approaching Vraath Keep

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After a short debate whether to wait for darkness or use the remaining daylight, the fact that goblinoids possess darkvision whilst the group does not convinces them to try their luck immediately. They scour the perimeter, trying to get as close to the keep as possible whilst maintaining cover. Abnoba goes for another round of tree climbing, but cannot spot anything meaningful, though there seem to be some skeletons in the ruined courtyard, probably quite big ones, too, given the distance. She also finds some tracks in the surrounding area.

From up close, it is a sorry sight, overgrown broken walls full of holes, rubble, and even large rocks all around. Hisoka casts Invisibility and investigates the keep from the inside – as well as a couple minutes of invisibility allow, anyhow. Nothing much, unfortunately, save for the same old decrepit towers and giant skeletons. However, one of the towers does seem to glow curiously, even if daylight makes it a bit harder to see. The courtyard has some more tracks, large humanoid ones, probably still from the dead giants, but also small and medium ones, as well as what appears to be large wolves and something that seems more like cloven hooves. Since wagons seem to be a thing the hobgoblins use, maybe they use oxen to pull them? As invisibility is running out, Hisoka assumes fox shape and ducks away into a stairway leading up to the walls. Nothing and no one there either, save for some fresh footprints in the dirt, alongside the odd trampled plant. Curious. Has the keep been used and then abandoned again? Entering one of the buildings would help but also lead to trouble. Unsatisfied, Hisoka makes his way back to the group and reports his findings. It is decided that the sneaky party members should try to infiltrate once more, which mostly means Abnoba and Hisoka (technically also Tsukiko, but hey, NPC), accompanied by Rasputin, who is ordered to lie in wait and ambush any potential foes.

Between a rock and a hard place

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Hisoka decides to stop the secrecy and assumes fox shape in front of the rather impressed Abnoba. Such a useful skill! Hisoka sneaks away, whilst Abnoba tries to steal into one of the gate towers. She chooses the right one, but nothing is in there, either – or she has missed something. Unsure, she waits and indeed, there seems to be some indistinct chatting in Goblin on the other side of one of the walls. Trying to slowly open the decrepit door proves tricky, but a small opening is enough for her to give Hisoka a sign anyhow. The latter notices the door creak and swiftly hides behind one of the rocks. Fortunately, it is just Abnoba gesturing for him to come over. A short update (not that he can reply in fox form…) and they decide for Abnoba to lie in wait, whilst Hisoka gets the rest of the group. Launching an attack now might sound an alarm if their suspicions prove true.

Just as he leaves, neither he nor Rasputin notice the two hobgoblin soldiers sneaking out of the other gate tower towards Abnoba’s position. Fortunately, she does notice and rather abruptly tries to hide between rubble and rocks. The two soldiers do not notice her and discuss a bit, with one claiming he had heard something from this direction. The door is slightly ajar, too, but so little that maybe it is just the state of the building – or the wind. Still, one stays behind, just in case, whilst the other sneaks back, again unnoticed by Rasputin. And that was good fortune, too, for Abnoba was all alone and was unsure what to do if a fight breaks out, as certainly an alarm might be sounded. So she sits and waits, literally on the other side of the hobgoblin soldier’s hiding spot. Good thing halflings are brave.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group is mobilized, and everybody buffs up. The plan is to have the not so sneaky characters sit in the foliage near the ruined shack close to the gates, until an emergency presents itself or some other sign is sent in their general direction. Hisoka, Pan and Tsukiko will go to meet Abnoba. Everybody sneaks rather well, save for Pan, and successfully spots the hobgoblin almost next to Abnoba (who looks rather desperate), while the hobgoblin spots an armored stag, the literal deer in the headlights if you will. The awkward, confused moment is used by the group for a surprise round, Hisoka rushes forward with his katana, slicing into the soldier, whilst Abnoba steps out and puts an arrow in her throat, the critical hit putting her well into negatives. She gasps and falls, blood pooling beneath her. All are quite relieved to have ended the threat right there in an instant, without much noise.

The stables

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The body is pulled away from the door and a plan made to enter the building on the right. Abnoba and Rasputin will use the gate supported by Tsukiko, Hisoka and Pan the broken wall a bit further up, to swiftly take care of whoever is inside. Ironically enough, Pan sneaks gracefully, whilst Hisoka rolls a natural one on his stealth check, oh well!

As Abnoba gets close to the gates, she asks Rasputin to listen well and while he can hear things, there is the much more pressing issue of smelling… something. Unfortunately, this works in both ways on this distance and Abnoba notices some rather barked orders in Goblin to “come over already”. Better act fast now. Inside, they find two worgs mounted by goblins, though Hisoka has no clue about the former, whilst Abnoba gets to roll whether she can make a guess due to her knowledge of goblin culture. She succeeds, recalling some worg and goblin facts. “LONGSHANKS!”, err, initiative!

Abnoba opens the gates and shoots one of the goblins, whose worg is promptly decapitated by a charging Hisoka (critical hits are nice indeed), the rider falling to the ground in ways only a goblin can. Pan and Rasputin also charge in. It is over quickly, though Hisoka does fall prey to the worg’s trip attack (a bit of an inside joke, too, as his player had a trip-happy wolf companion in another group), with the goblins mostly missing and one dead mount and goblin later, the survivor attempts to flee, screaming at the top of his lungs. The rest of the group is held up at the gates by the remaining veteran who engages Kiya in melee. Abi tries to finish the worg rider with his spear in the courtyard, but he is just not cut out for melee combat and misses.

Battle for the courtyard

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A couple more hobgoblins come out of the building adjacent to the large tower, trying their best to assume tactical positions, such as ganging up on Abi who is all alone in the middle of the courtyard and gets beat up rather fiercely (I incidentally forgot about Defending Bone until a bit later, go me!). One of them keeps playing with Kiya by the gates for a good while though, hitting mirror images at best. The others approach, Hisoka uses the moment to buff with Divine Favor, Abnoba rides into the fray, shooting arrows everywhere. Much to her chagrin, it seems as if the wounds begin healing right after her arrows hit. In the doorway from where the hobgoblins came, she spots a familiar shaman who begins bleeding in roughly the same spots her arrows hit. What? Uth-Lar is also back, apparently furious to meet the adventurers again. One of the archers shouts some orders in the direction of another building, upon which a winged lion creature flies out and lands on the roof. Hisoka recognizes it as a manticore. The players are not elated by the info about a flying spike shooting lion thing.

Uth-Lar, despite her buffs, performs poorly as ever and can barely manage to block or land a single attack. Half of the other hobgoblins are blinded by a Glitterdust cast by Tsukiko when Abi withdrew from their midst, so things do look well for the group. The rather apathetically watching manticore is ordered to attack and Abnoba gets spiked a bit. Also, one “Karkilan” is supposed to come out and help. A large minotaur steps out, taking half the wall with it. Fortunately, he barely misses Abnoba with his axe.

The next turn, Abnoba goes all in on Karkilan, hitting him with four arrows (the first a crit), with Rasputin adding another two hits for good measure. I point out to them that after what were effectively six arrows and a full attack from a panther, he is still standing, looking angry rather than wounded. They seem worried. Karkilan attacks, hitting Abnoba just once… for 31 damage. Worry intensifies. It is slightly alleviated by Abi stepping out and healing everybody with channeled energy, only to have Abnoba spiked some more. Tsukiko slips by the goblinoids and sneak attacks the manticore with Scorching Ray. Rather bored of the pathetic to-and-fro myself, I decide that Kiya does an actual Magus thing and spell combats her opponent to death with Shocking Grasp. Abi casts an extended Prayer, hitting everybody and finally, an enormous hobgoblin? steps out of the building, next to Karkilan. Absurdly muscled, covered in blue scales, with claws and enormous teeth, electricity crackling all over him he does… nothing, as Abnoba’s player must leave. Unfortunate to cut it short right here!

Thoughts

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Not sure if I might be giving it away but this. Was. So. Cool! I feared the whole sneaking around part would turn out extremely boring or be ignored in favor of direct assault, but they really went for it and tried their best to scout. Of course, this is where some divinations would have been handy, but it worked out nicely anyhow. Funny thing is that the slight creak of the door was only heard due to a natural twenty on of the hobgoblin’s parts, where I thought it ought to mean something. The whole part with Abnoba hiding basically right next to the also hidden soldier which then turned into a swift kill without any alarms? Beautiful. The dice really favored them, particularly with the bow crits, though admittedly, when you roll several attacks each round, a 20 is bound to happen, but the timing was simply priceless. This time I did not forget the Life Link, so the enemies are much more durable. On the other hand, I did forget the battle aura. I did also telegraph several times that the shaman can apparently heal without touching her targets, but the group has so far ignored her. The ambush survivors know who their healer is, though.

As mentioned before, had none of the marauders escaped, things might have been different, but this Koth takes his job seriously, especially this close to commencing the attack on Drellin’s Ferry. Hence why two hobgoblins were stationed in one of the towers (and again, they chose the other one to check, such luck there) and the keep so quiet. Once things escalated, everybody used some buffs, yet they still performed poorly. Koth is buffed and very dangerous, but who knows what the dice have to say on that matter.

Speaking of it, that guy at the end? Koth. The son of Azarr Kul, a Bloodrager/Dragon Disciple eager to prove himself, with a nice electricity based AoMF made from one of grandpa Tyrgarun’s teeth. If they manage to beat him, that should be a decent upgrade for one of the animal companions, alongside a batch of other goodies. I am hoping it will be memorable, as this is the nerfed version already – the first draft was basically a walking TPK by himself.

I have the feeling that the level up was a good call. The players are winning (as they should), but to a large degree because Abnoba is shooting twice as many arrows each round. Right now, in a situation where almost all enemies are also her favored enemies, she can put out immense damage. This kind of upgrade will not happen anytime soon again.

Stopping directly before the climax is annoying, but it is how things go sometimes. I do wonder whether the bridge will be interesting after all this, just annoying or even overshadow the so far very tense Vraath Keep. I can also only hope to get one more players to join up, as two is just below my comfort zone. Otherwise, I might have to give them a follower or something. Good thing that both remaining player characters also have an animal companion.

[PrismCat21]

Thank you for the updates Arkain.
There'll likely not be a lot of replies to the thread, but it is being read. We appreciate you keep coming back.

[Arkain]

Well, that's actually quite reassuring. I was wondering if anybody even reads it, as the time for RHoD journals may just be over by now.


Session 7

To the death

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We begin where we left off – a new round, with the player characters beginning. They go all in on Karkilan who has proven very dangerous, but Hisoka and Pan roll poorly, only the latter hitting him once. Abnoba’s and Rasputin’s combined full attacks manage to bring Karkilan down to -28 though, barely enough to kill him before he can deal any more damage. Kiya casts Flurry of Snowballs, and even though most enemies make their saves, damaging almost everyone certainly helps. The remaining veteran drags unconscious Uth-Lar away and readies a healing potion. Abi sicks a Spiritual Weapon at the enemy healer, which barely deals damage, but she goes down, at -1, lucky there, as she would have channeled energy to undo the damage just dealt to everybody directly after Abi’s turn. The air around Koth crackles with lightning, the ground breaking away as he roars (cue anime power up theme)… and rolls pathetically low on his intimidate check. Enough, mind you, to shake and hopefully frighten the entire party, though said hope is slightly ruined by Hisoka, Abnoba and Rasputin all making their will saves. The manticore has meanwhile made a roll to determine whether he flees the scene… and then I promptly forgot to complete his turn with real actions .

Hisoka activates goblinoid bane and tries to stop the veteran, but misses barely. Pan flees the scene, while Abnoba does not believe in rolling poorly, digging into Koth’s hit points. Tsukiko gets an attack of opportunity as he tries to flee Koth with the rest of the party, taking some 30 damage. Seems this one is dangerous, too! The veteran changes her plans and begins feeding their healer a healing potion. Koth’s turn and Abnoba’s player is a bit frightened at the prospect of a full attack, so I indulge her. Instead, Koth breathes lightning at her and Rasputin at point blank range, after not too impressive reflex saves they take 26 damage (and so does one of the unconscious hobgoblins, now well beyond saving). Whilst much less dangerous, Hisoka is annoyed to have been spiked by the manticore.

Next turn, Hisoka’s bane finally turns out useful, allowing for almost another 30 damage – and yet, Koth still stands. Rasputin misses, Abnoba puts three more arrows into Koth. Still standing. The shaman wakes up and immediately channels energy, healing her allies. The manticore charges Hisoka rather feebly and is downed between now and the next round – I honestly cannot remember how, that is how unimpressive it was. Koth repeats his performance. Abnoba barely manages to resist the fear with aid of her lucky charm, but Rasputin does not. The next second, he bolts in ways only a frightened cat can, Abnoba barely managing to jump off. She fires more arrows, Pan has successfully returned at this point and tries to flank with Hisoka, who balances on Karkilan’s corpse. Pan’s trip attempt almost succeeds (off by 1, to be precise), but seems to throw Koth off his balance enough for Hisoka to decapitate him (critical hit, again!). Blood gushes out of the enormous body as it slumps to the ground. Seeing their leader defeated in such a manner, the remaining two hobgoblins surrender.

Hello there!

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And now for another round of awkward post-battle conversation. After a moment of silence, Hisoka addresses the hobgoblins in Common.

“Well met, we don’t want to harm you!”

I remind them that at this point they have killed probably most of their comrades as well as their leader(s), the enormous body of one having painted a good portion of the courtyard in blood. I might have also started laughing uncontrollably, but who knows whether that really happened.

What follows is more awkwardness, the wounded are cared for. I roll retroactively for the surviving goblin worg rider and he surprisingly stabilizies just one hit point shy of death. Other survivors are the shaman, one veteran, a still unconscious Uth-Lar and indeed also one of the marauders (who lays right next to his now fried comrade). The group recommends he should pick up gambling, all things considered. The shaman offers to help and heal the group as well as the wounded via channeled energy, as a gesture of good will. A good idea, so everybody heals up a bit, coming to their senses. So does the very confused manticore, rather by coincidence than intent, though.

The awakened Uth-Lar is furious about the calm hobgoblins and orders further attacks. She is told that there is no point, both Karkilan and Koth are dead, there are barely any survivors as is. Upon hearing this, she looks around (mind you that she lost consciousness when both were still standing) and sees the dead bodies. Abnoba does not notice, but Hisoka sees that upon looking at the bodies, she seems to react strongly, but keeps it to herself, saving face and all that. Abnoba follows the conversation in Goblin, translating a bit on the side. While all this happens, Koth’s body shrinks back to medium size, a bit of a surprise for the group.

More unpleasant to-and-fro follows, as the hobgoblins cannot quite comprehend the situation. They are told of the surviving marauder, with the group realizing they had never asked for her name – something they promptly forget to do this time around, too. The hobgoblins wonder if this means they are to tell them all their secrets or die. Or be tortured to tell and then die anyway. Much like Nisa, they seem rather fatalistic now, whilst the group tries to assure them that killing them is not their intent. Hisoka guarantees that no matter what happens, they shall not come to harm.
All the while, the manticore slowly inches back. An annoyed Hisoka asks what is up with the coward. He replies in broken Common, saying that the deal is off, as Koth is dead. He wants to go home. “Who is Koth?” is something that is probably asked within the game and outside of it. At first, they wonder if the minotaur is Koth, but I remind them about Nisa’s taunting about one Karkilan, “strong as an ox”. Turns out the blue lightning guy was Koth, but pleasantries are seldom exchanged in battle. Hisoka waves off, even more annoyed with the cowardly lion than before. He may do whatever he wants, nobody cares. With that, he turns around and sets off to fly away, but Uth-Lar throws a sword into his back, for once not rolling miserably. After confirming that nobody minds, she slits his throat for good measure, saying that there is no place for cowards and traitors.

With that, further exploration of Vraath Keep or more detailed interrogations will have to wait, as we had agreed upon a brief session.

Thoughts

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It was short, but pleasant, I dare say. I am both a bit sad that Koth barely got to do anything and pleased that he had such an amazing death. If Hisoka had not critted him back there (he was at 6 hp at the time), he might have gotten back up again. The damage put him well past the point of no return though and the imagery of the stag pushing the hulking dragon-man so that the kinda-samurai may swiftly end him (or end him rightly, if you will) is certainly something that I will not forget for a good while!

There is something to sour it, however. Roll20 is curious sometimes and the way we applied the bane effect made it so that every bit of extra damage was applied a second time. I did not care much for an impossible 14 on the bane dice on the crit, thinking there may have been a mistake in the mechanics and Koth was well beyond saving anyhow, having been critically hit while he was down to 6 hit points, but if I had noticed said mistake from the start, Koth might have survived (longer, anyway), which would have tremendously turned the battle around. I was briefly considering retroactively upping him to max hit points (for the time being reserved for chapter 2 onwards), but really, why take this amazing win away?

On a mechanical level, I tried to emulate a dragon with Koth. He used Dazzling Display in combination with Signature Skill (Intimidate) for a “fear aura”, but since everybody else was down, he got to do little else. They were lucky, too, as the healer hitting exactly -1 just before her turn might have also turned the tides here. That, and sheer luck. Koth was buffed, his AC at 26, plus standing in cover and everything, but Abnoba simply did not consider rolling below 30 that day, at least not with her first (manyshotted) attacks! I went on after the session and simulated what a full attack of his might have been like and where they have been happy with how things went, now everyone was really glad he did not get to survive that round to full attack them back. The general sense was one of not unfair, but still challenging difficulty, making for a very tense game. Happy to hear that, really! The break between the sessions was also perceived positively, as the former one was quite exhausting after all.

The good news is that we might get an Arcanist next session, and an arcane caster is really something the group can use! I am now wondering about the bridge, though and whether I should give at least Ozzy max hp. I was originally planning not to, only doing so for important enemies from chapter 2 onwards, but maybe it is time. I guess I shall see how the big, scary dragon will turn out and just play it by ear. For now, the group still has the remains of Vraath Keep to explore and ought to decide how to deal with the goblins.

[Arkain]

Session 8

Establishing trust

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We continue right where we left, and finally someone considers exchanging pleasantries. The hobgoblins (and goblin) introduce themselves as Uth-Lar, Sena, Irnk, Zarr, Doruk, the group also introduces everyone. Next, a plan is discussed as to what the next should be. What is ultimately favored is some kind of “neutral discussion”, with only the question of whether they want to go into town together or return to the keep with some representatives. Hisoka realizes that this is a perfect moment for setting up an assassination, yet stays on track regardless. Ultimately, Uth-Lar is in favor of just joining everyone on their way back to Drellin’s Ferry. Nobody will be seen or treated as a prisoner here, which surprises the hobgoblins.

With that out of the way, time to go exploring! Hisoka goes, whilst Abnoba stays with the NPC brigade. He finds many things, but none truly useful, abandoned beds and mess kits etc. Still, a large tower, ruined from top to bottom, awaits. The top level is permeated by the stench of decay. A wooden frame has a burning corpse lashed to it, possibly another farmer. Strangely, the flame offers light, but not heat, neither is the corpse consumed by it, rather, the light might even have attracted some insects to speed up the decomposition. That would explain the eerie glow, however. Puzzled, he returns to the courtyard. A spellcraft check reveals that a Continual Flame spell might explain the whole situation, but he still asks Uth-Lar, deciding that there are only two explanations… the first of which I plain forgot, as the second suggestion was “some kind of idol worship”, which stunned me a bit and dominates my recollection . Uth-Lar follows up with sarcasm. One ought to be wary around goblins, they might kill you and lash you to a frame to worship your rotting corpse! She is sure that Hisoka will see soon enough, when night falls.

He also inspects out the gardener’s shack outside, which has certainly seen better days. Opening the door seems to have destabilized it, as inside he immediately notices it will not hold much longer, leaving only one course of action: run away! It collapses in an immense dust cloud, leaving the people in the courtyard to wonder what has happened outside. A look at the manticore’s nest reveals a couple goodies, including a dirty, but well-made cloak. As he remembers Miranda’s wagon, it dawns on him that the items might have been taken from her collection of trading goods to bribe the manticore. With the entire map cleared up, Abnoba and Hisoka go for a final sweep, with the latter activating his perception boosting animal focus. And lucky he did, as otherwise nobody would have found the hidden trapdoor close to the stairs leading up to the tower.

A rusty ladder leads down a hatch into absolute darkness, an iron gate at the bottom blocking entry into a chamber. Hisoka tries to unlock it, but the lock just will not open. They get Tsukiko, who tries it casually, then concentrated, then by giving his all and finally, the room is open to them, only to reveal more locks and a corpse. Great. Tsukiko gets to work, whilst Hisoka examines the room with Detect Magic. One of the alcoves contains a trunk that seems to radiate a bit of magic. Interesting, but much more interesting right now is that whilst the skeleton’s chainmail is ruined, its mace radiates magic. The skeleton itself seems to have died of an enormous arrow still stuck between the ribs. Hopefully, it will not stand up and attack.

The only way to reward picking locks is with more locks, and so the group tucks away the strong boxes they find in one of the alcoves for later opening pleasures. Another is filled to the brimming with documents, which reveals some interesting things. Seems like this was Amerys Vraath’s secret abode and he did indeed leave a diary entry about having solved the problem with the woodsie creatures, particularly the wood giants, by setting the Witchwood ablaze. Looks like this did not work out as intended, considering the state of the keep. Within a chest in the third alcove, they find an enormous gauntlet with a decoration on it, depicting a hand that seems to be also turning into a tree. An intricately crafted staff radiates some absurd magic, to the point that it was discernible through the closed chest, a mithril chain shirt, a gruesome necklace, looking as if made from human teeth, only much bigger and finally, what might be a dragon skull complete the chest. With no more looting to be done, everybody returns upstairs. To loot some more, as there are still corpses about! Doubts about respect go right out the window once the shiny magical auras are discovered.

There is a lot of stuff to identify here. The mace is enchanted with the powers of law, giving it an axiomatic bonus. Koth’s bag is a bag of holding, filled with consumables, which are added to the pile of potions. His necklace is revealed to be not only intimidating, but also enchanted with electricity, conferring it to natural attacks. The staff turns out the greatest treasure of all, a staff of life. That should come in handy as a panic button. Or maybe just sell it and settle down…

Anyway, a great discussion erupts whether to sleep with or without guards, as guards would imply not trusting the hobgoblins to keep their word. Ultimately, they decide not to post any guards and everybody goes to rest after an exhausting day, what with the entire keep and the hydra beforehand. I have them retroactively roll diplomacy to find out how well they conveyed their debate idea and both Abnoba and Hisoka come up with a 24 and 23, even though none are too skill in diplomacy. Good! The next morning, everybody is still present and they make their way back to Drellin’s Ferry.

Nobody expects the Chelish inquisition

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The way back is uneventful, unlike the entry back into Drellin’s Ferry. Same old, though, confused militia, for this time the goblins are not even chained up, somebody is called who calls Soranna, who okays everything. But something has changed, she warns ominously. They will see at speaker Wiston’s house soon enough, but it seems as if Cheliax has reacted in some way after all.
At this point I realize that I forgot to hand out Koth’s map earlier. With Abnoba’s and Hisoka’s combined Goblin and Draconic skills, they can read it, but it makes little sense to them. They decide to postpone further discussion and maybe ask the locals to help them out. With that, back to the peace efforts!

First, a neutral mediator. The group decides to ask Avarthel, who is both delighted and confused, but accepts. They settle for the grove as a place of discussion later the same day. Other people who might offer some rational and insightful perspectives include Sertieren (bonus points for not being human in an overtly goblinoid vs human conflict), Soranna and speaker Wiston. Uth-Lar in particular gives curious expressions, whenever the situation is explained in a way that implies the group protects the hobgoblins, as opposed to protecting others from having them fight back. Maybe a matter of framing, but ultimately, nobody is amused here.

On their way, they stop by the toll house and get their former prisoner, who turns out to be Nisa, as the hobgoblins guessed from the group’s descriptions. The hobgoblins probably feel quite vindicated in their beliefs, as every street is abandoned the moment they are spotted by the scared townspeople. Not exactly nice treatment, but as expected… by some.

In Norro Wiston’s house, the group is again stared at, even though the guards have been warned by Soranna to expect the curious entourage. Norro Wiston seems a bit beside himself, and inside his study they find the reason, a Chelish “inquisitor” has arrived in their absence. He is introduced as one Lord Imperius (most likely a self-given name). Quite surprised to see hobgoblins so casually striding into the town speaker’s house, he has the situation explained to him and goes over some points he considers incomplete or missing, such as whether the matter of resources has been addressed yet. And so it turned from “Let’s stop killing each other” to “What can you give us?”.

Hisoka tries to mediate, asking whether goblinkind has something to exchange, so trading relations may be established, something well beyond peace or a mere truce. Uth-Lar in particular is not amused by the tone of it all (“What can you do? How about craftsmanship?”) and becomes even more distrustful. I have them recall some “facts”, such as that hobgoblins are often very good at alchemy and engineering, hobgoblins specifically excel at war, as their culture revolves around it to a large degree. They have even witnessed this firsthand, as all soldiers are well equipped and trained in (teamwork) tactics. Ultimately, the question does seem a bit superfluous, as there is probably plenty of craftsmanship and military might to offer, for starters. But there is something strange about it, as the regular goblin in their midst seems more a regular soldier than a slave. And hobgoblins are all about slaves, including other goblinoids, yet so far they seem to simply kill others.
After more awkwardness, they go to visit Sertieren, who does not recognize anybody, until Hisoka remarks that they spoke before. He seems much friendlier immediately and agrees to help in their little debate, antagonizing Imperius, who seems unimpressed by the whole thing, as it is no “real” peace anyway. Looks like this will be interesting.

Finally, Sertieren looks at the map, remarking that it might be a timeline or a plan of sorts, as the only way from Cinder Hill is over Skull Gorge towards the cities the group has passed on their way already. Cinder Hill turns out to be a place that was nothing but cinders after the forest burnings, a day or so away from Skull Gorge. Also, when is “Day 5”? (Now is day 3, in fact.)

No one can at first make sense of a particular note on the map near the Thornwastes, reading “Ghostlord?”. Sertieren calls that a children's story. Imperius recalls the story of the Ghostlord or rather, the stories. What they have in common is a druid, some casting him as villain, others as hero, but all ending with his disappearance. The joys of ancient history and unreliable documentation! Ever since that time, the Thornwastes, a harsh, dangerous area, are said to be haunted by the Ghostlord and whoever goes there does not return. Sertieren notes he always regarded it a children’s tale, maybe to instill fear in order to keep people from going to the Thornwastes. Imperius muses that that a supposedly haunted, dangerous area everyone avoids would be wonderful to hide an army. Ominous. With that we close the session.

Thoughts

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I must say, I am a bit at a loss as to how to continue all this. The plot is close to derailment, which I rather like, as the usual ending of “beating” the horde would be at best a neutral ending all things considered, with player actions as a wild card to worsen or improve upon it. Next session might thus be very important and interesting in terms of where the plot might go. Still, the behavior displayed towards the goblins has rather soured their mood, so maybe it will not go well at all. I am considering having maybe Nisa, Uth-Lar and Zarr become recurring characters though. Nisa is still a bit puzzled but has had time to think. Uth-Lar fought for Koth, not for the Red Hand. Koth is gone, so she might become an antagonist or maybe a neutral if not allied character. Zarr (yes, I said “the shaman” this entire time and then went for plain old Zarr as her identity anyhow) is sworn to uphold goblinoid life, forever bound to a life spirit. She might have doubts about the whole mission if this all goes well. Should the group successfully continue pushing towards peace, she might see some wisdom in it, as it might save more lives than the war about to happen. Interesting, I dare say!

Speaking of derailing the plot, nobody seems to have realized that with Koth’s demise having had such a profound effect, they may have just revived him with the staff of life. Now that I would not have been prepared for, but I am in free fall as is right now anyhow. I am half-considering having the chimera attack encounter play out during or after this whole debate thing, if only because I could also use it as a tutorial for dragon fights (i.e. flying breath weapon death machine).

By the way, I am amazed this is happening at all, mostly due to the unlikeliness of such high diplomacy rolls. If they had rolled poorly, the hobgoblins would have snuck up to them in the night to deliver coup-de-graces, whereas a mediocre result would have lead to them leaving the scene, but letting the group be. I mean come on, the enemy tells you to chill out and goes to sleep right in front of you, after healing everybody as a bonus. Of course you might seek revenge there. Currently, this is also a diversion tactic. The group is very far away from Skull Gorge now. Even if this does not work out, the Red Hand might yet gain something from it.

Imperius is the new character, an evocation focused Arcanist. Too bad we only got to introduce him towards the end, but he wished to not be the guy all beaten up in chains in some corner of the tower, which I can relate to. It is a fast, but undignified introduction. His player thought it a nice twist to go for the Chelish agent, who might have a severe change of heart as the quest continues. I quite agree here, there is a lot of potential for roleplay. Unfortunately, also a lot of potential for the bad kind of conflict which pleases nobody. We shall see. And whilst it was spot on, I am not sure if his behavior has not already nullified the group’s efforts. Still, one part of the group working against Cheliax, with the other a Chelish agent? That is tension right there!

For Koth’s map, I took a stylistically entirely different map of the Elsir Vale and left out the silliness, but I was a bit surprised that the plan/timeline was not obvious to the players. Having introduced the Ghostlord this early opens the problem of the group making their way there without any bargaining chips at all, but such is the nature of open, sandboxy campaigns. Until now, they seem to rather appreciate some rails, so maybe Rhest will be next after all.

The Ghostlord himself is vastly changed. He will be a siabrae, as I saw little reason to not use Pathfinder’s very own druidic lich. Whilst usually there is one true story about him, these are basically all wrong. Acting as a protector, the Thornwastes will show what he protects against, as the area is quite corrupted, Worldwound style. The phylactery will rather serve as a focus for his protective magics.

[Arkain]

Session 9

The Great Debate

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With everybody informed the group visits the Old Ones again, where Avarthel is trying to make everything a bit more comfortable. He was probably not prepared for this. The setup is as follows:

The hobgoblins (and goblin) on one side, Norro Wiston and Soranna on the other. Both represent “the goblins” and… whom actually? “The people?” “Humans”? Tthe non-goblins, I suppose. Avarthel and Sertieren act as mediators. Hisoka and Imperius go forward, declaring that this moment will be a neutral zone, no weapons, no fears. Everybody is free to speak their minds.

Uth-Lar serves as the main speaker for the goblins’ side, whose point seems to be that goblinoids have seen and endured nothing but hatred over the ages. Their question is how it can be that a desire for a place of their own outside of the wilds would be condemned. As violence is and has ever been the only answer to a goblinoid’s existence, they reply in kind. Indeed, “civilized” humanity has been nothing but destructive, a recent example being the burnings of the forests during the Goblinblood Wars, which resulted in countless deaths and had long-lasting effects on the land.

Wiston’s side is concerned by the recent developments, not interested in explicitly killing the goblins as such, but rather just acting in self-defense (indeed, Soranna’s interests are mostly related to keeping Drellin’s Ferry save). Making ends meet is troublesome enough as is, for the land is not kind to anyone, especially since most druids have withdrawn their aid. The question they pose would be: why them?

Part of the problem really seems to be that the grudge the goblins have held for so long has basically grown out of control this point. For sake of brevity, let us focus on some of the highlights.
Hisoka recalls that hobgoblins are not hated everywhere, as indeed nearby Molthune has begun recruiting hobgoblins and other “monsters” into their mercenary armies, but this seems to be of little help. Still, curious. He does propose some solutions, but many of those seem to be, in all frankness, variants of goblin Apartheid. The goblins are of course not too thrilled at the proposition, particularly when they could instead get some revenge and take the land for themselves, in an eye-for-an-eye mentality once again. It also certainly does not help that Uth-Lar, as main voice and commanding officer, is constantly being reprimanded by the killer of Koth, whom she seems to have had a lot of affection for, as Imperius notes. No satisfactory answer on the matter is ever given.

For his first trick, Imperius decides to commit high treason and denounces true loyalty towards Cheliax, as he has been sent here not because either him or Drellin’s Ferry are important, but rather the opposite, he is expendable and nobody truly cares about Isger, much less the Elsir Vale. Upon hearing this, Soranna and Norro Wiston are suddenly much more open in everything they say. However, Imperius also warns(/threatens) that the empire might nevertheless bring all its infernal might down on the goblinoid forces. It is pointed out every now and then that Cheliax is also very much to blame for all this, however.

Abnoba wonders two things, first the hobgoblins seem to be much more interested in killing everyone than anything else. This does not fit the hobgoblin cultures she knows, which are very much about taking slaves wherever possible. The second thing concerns Zarr, who she has seen trying to keep others alive by taking their wounds upon herself, even channeling positive energy. It seems unusual. In game terms, she is either not a cleric or neither she nor her faith are evil aligned. Upon asking, Zarr confirms that she has sworn herself to upholding goblinoid life. But ultimately, she is but a lowly shaman and a soldier. In this note, there is also an understanding that the goblins the group is talking to are basically just survivors, but no real leaders. Maybe this will not lead to anything, but you got to start somewhere.

Imperius’ player has an idea in this regard: they could offer themselves up as prisoners to be led away to a proper general or other leading figure. I advise that this could work but would be absurdly dangerous at the best of times. Eventually, they decide against it. Brave idea, though!

Lots of to and fro later no real consensus is reached. To allow for a bit of a conclusion, I ask for diplomacy rolls. Nobody manages to successfully aid him, but Hisoka gets a 23 nevertheless. Impressive, and it seems as if some doubt in their cause has been sown in the hobgoblins – or at least Nisa and Zarr. Uth-Lar remains angry as ever and threatens that the Elsir will run red with human blood for generations to come. With that, they leave town. A frustrating outcome, frankly, but maybe there is still hope.

I think we forgot something…

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Sulking in a tavern, the group remembers something. The map. The one with the military plans on it. Whoops!

A positive aspect of digital play is that everybody can take the thing and draw on it all they like, no spare copies needed. The map is analyzed and the obvious conclusion is that this is indeed bad news, better see Speaker Wiston about it. The man is visibly shaken about the recent events and this news does not sit well with him. Especially the proposal to destroy Skull Gorge Bridge, for without it, Drellin’s Ferry might die all the same, as it is one of the few ways into the vale. Imperius remains firm, if the map is true to even the slightest degree, they must evacuate. Dear Norro Wiston begs the group to buy some time (and reconsider, but to no avail), as leaving everything behind (including the harvest) will not only be difficult, but also take time. He shall call for an emergency meeting this very night, the group is invited and will receive a message as soon as everything is ready. They also plan to leave the first thing in the morning. With that, we close the session.

Thoughts

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Weirdly still a bit on the short side, but it took me forever to write. Ah, the joys of trying to summarize hours of roleplaying goodness.

I was unsure how to even do this in the first place, as originally the players had managed to get some mediators and two parties to talk with each other… all of them being NPCs, i.e. me. In other words, they had managed to create a cutscene and I was neither going to skip it entirely (as that means it is irrelevant), nor was I going to talk to myself for hours. What I ended up doing was put them in the mediating role and have each involved party talk primarily to the player characters. Maybe a bit on the nose and obvious, but it kind of worked out. This did demote Avarthel and Sertieren to mere decoration, though.

It is truly unfortunate that nothing too big was going to come from it from the start (given that no one involved was important enough in the Red Hand hierarchy) and even more so that not a single aiding diplomacy roll succeeded, as a total of 25 would have been enough to make Uth-Lar re-consider (not that I am a firm believer in the diplomacy rules…). But hey, small victories. If a good opportunity offers itself up, I hope to bring some of the hobgoblins back, though Uth-Lar could use a bit of an upgrade, as she is most likely antagonistic for the foreseeable future. A part of a raiding party or an assassination attempt could work, I suppose.

I am not sure how I feel about all this on a narrative level. As I mentioned, nothing much was going to come out of this, but I hoped the plot might become more interesting to the players. Instead the reverse effect may have taken place, with everybody feeling insulted and sulking about not being obeyed.

What surprised me was that the group seriously considered surrendering themselves to the Red Hand. Admittedly, this would have worked, in the sense of getting to see somebody important, but Kharn would have executed them, unless, given the group's skills, somebody rolled a natural 20 on a diplomacy roll. In which case they might have been beaten badly, stripped of equipment, and then may have attempted to escape from captivity amidst the horde. Good luck with that!

Regretfully, nobody realized how much of a bargaining chip the staff of life is. If Koth was so important they could have promised to bring him back with it. And although I mentioned it last time, I will readily admit that I did not think of it myself during the session, but it was the first thing that came to my mind after we stopped. That would have completely derailed the plot, but is that not where the fun lies?

Given their head start, Uth-Lar’s troop will issue warning to the Skull Gorge Bridge troops, meaning some reinforcements may be in order, as obviously the encounter is not deadly enough yet. Thankfully, I can now ditch the party members who no longer participate, which adds some more difficulty, yay! The group might even go and seek out the horde at Cinder Hills, who knows? At any rate, it should remain interesting.

[Arkain]

Ah yes, the awkward moment when you finally type up your latest journal entry and realize you forgot to post for a while. Classic

Session 10

City council

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Declining the offer to check various merchants for supplies or whatever else might come to mind (Hisoka will get some masterwork thieves’ tools later after all, though) until the council meeting happens, the group spends their time in the Old Bridge Inn. They talk a bit about themselves, who they are, why they are here, those kinds of things. A nice change of pace, if you will, but the situation does not allow proper mirth to spark. Eventually, jolly Kellin visits their table, asking if everything is alright, the usual, you know. As they are waiting for a messenger from Norro Wiston, Kellin offers to have them accompany him, as he was about to go to Wiston’s anyhow. Anything to get out of this uncomfortable waiting game, really! Back at Wiston’s, they promptly find themselves expected and Kellin takes his place amongst the council members. Oh, so that is why…

The meeting consists of Norro Wiston, Kellin, Soranna and two people never seen before, one Delora, who turns out to be the stable mistress and a grumpy man going by Iormel. In short, no one is thrilled by the proposition of evacuating Drellin’s Ferry and destroying the bridge at Skull Gorge, but things being as they are, the alternatives are few and far inbetween. Kellin proposes to simply buy the hobgoblin army off for the time being, whilst Iormel is against that or flight entirely, seeing how abandoning everything also means no harvest to speak of. Soranna and Delora quite agree that evacuation is necessary to ensure the survival of the people, with Wiston agreeing that it seems the best course, even if the decision might be difficult. The group also informs everyone that the time for negotiations (as per Kellin’s suggestion) are way over, what with the recent discussion earlier ending on a rather sour note and the invasion plans on the map. In light of all this, themajority votes for evacuating the city. Delora is asked to provide horses to send messengers to the east, both to warn and to hopefully get some more helpers for various things. The elderly, sick and children will also be sent away ahead of time.

Seeing an opportunity, the group once more investigates upon the Ghostlord they have heard about and whose name is on the map. In response, Wiston tells them how it is a children’s tale about an evil druid, with Kellin butting in that really, he is a good one. And thus, several versions of the same story are told (or rather, handed out). Now, this did not help at all in clearing things up, did it? All things said and done, the group goes to bed and heads out early the next morning.

To Skull Gorge Bridge

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Again, the Witchwood is eerily quiet, at least so long as one stays on the “path”. The old show, lots of marching, suddenly marshy area, bridge, wagon and all still there. Of course, Imperius has never seen that one, so it makes for wonderful idle talk. Still further on the ruins of Vraath Keep. Nobody has an interest to check those out again and it would be a bit off path, too, when there is still so much ground to cover. Almost halfway there, whew! Farther alongside the way, the group comes across a curious wooden idol sporting the same symbol of a hand turning into a tree they already found on the immense gauntlet in the keep’s vault. Time for some rolls about wood giants, with Abnoba only being surpassed by Imperius (resident nerd) rolling a 20. Some wood giant info later, the rough conclusion is a lot of confirming what Avarthel already told them before. Seeing the state of disrepair of the effigy and pathway it marks, the tribe (it was then that I realized I had no good name ready and “Twistusk” was never to my liking…) may have left the area after the siege of Vraath Keep, as the diary there also spoke of Amerys having rid himself of them. Not that it worked out well for him, but details, details…

Anyways, no time to dwell and so the group marches on. They did not want to rush into the woods as fast as possible, but rather at a heightened pace, but still, some easy fortitude checks are in order and passed, nobody is fatigued or anything. They must be near the gorge now and with a bit o effort find it, still concealed in nearby foliage. The apparently unexpected happens and “the old dwarf bridge” dear Norro Wiston was so concerned about for its importance and irreplaceability is in fact not a half rotten wooden construction where you cut a rope and call it a day. Huh. Also, are there hobgoblins on the other side of the gorge? Are those worg riders? Are there hobgoblins in the towers? IS THAT A DRAGON?

Is that a frigging DRAGON?

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Yeah, dragon. Whoops. Looks big, too, they can see that even from their hiding space. And green, that one. Time to roll for dragon lore! Imperius again at it with ludicrous rolls, so all the things are revealed, acid forest dragon, can be bargained with, usually lawful evil, etc. Hisoka notes he can speak Draconic (because obviously the hyperintelligent magical lizard is the only one who might never speak Taldane), at which point I remind the party that “Ozzyrandion” was written in that same language. Might be the dragon’s name and he is the one who guards this place, it all makes sense now… Time to use that wand of Sending they got early on in their adventure to warn the city! Soranna gets the message and replies that they need to be careful, while the city will double their efforts to evacuate. Great, but what now?

Cue over an hour (maybe two?) of panicked planning. One could try to disguise themselves, as a merchant, say and attempt to pass the bridge. But they have so far just found murdered merchants (never mind having no goods to show) and wanderers are unlikely to meet a different fate, given the intent to kill all the humans. Also, leaving your weapons and armor behind might be a tad bit dangerous for this. But how else to get to the dragon? Certainly, one must speak with the dragon, maybe bribe him.

The alternative would be to have them charge right in, which they deem suicide. I remind them of various buff spells they could use, either from their own abilities, in the form of potions or as scrolls. There is also the matter of some leftover loot (at this point, Pan gets Koth’s AoMF). They could also walk down alongside the chasm some more and maybe cross it somehow, at least they would be on the other side then and closer to the dragon.

The other big problem would be the bridge itself. How does one destroy such a massive structure? No one has any “explosives” and they would probably not do much to the bridge anyhow. Maybe it has even been booby trapped, though such things might be advantageous. I remind them that the hobgoblins are probably too clever to set up explosive traps that would destroy the very bridge they are guarding, much to everyone’s disappointment.

Eventually, the frontal assault is chosen out of desparation, focusing everything on the dragon in a sneak attack. Lots of buffs are used, Imperius swaps some spells around and gives everyone resistance against acid, which will certainly come in handy. Unfortunately, Ozzy is too far away for Abnoba to use her Dead Aim deed, but she hits anyway. Imperius’ Fireball is cast with increased caster level for 28 damage and Ozzy rolls a 1 on save, how lovely. Hisoka rolls poorly, misses by 1 and is allowed to retroactively apply that Cat’s Grace, which he totally drank, you see. 54 damage in the surprise round for Ozzy, the sniper in the tower survives thanks to cover, with exactly 1 hit point. Ouch! And thus begins the great potion war.

It’s potion time

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The archers in the back are first, one opens fire as well as she can, with the other dropping down and quaffing a healing potion. Abnoba and Rasputin advance, shooting as per usual, but she rolls poorly this time around. Hobgoblins advance and/or drink potions, one woman practically covered in vials turning invisible, much like Ozzy (how unfair!). Hisoka replies with See Invisibility, whilst Pan moves towards the bridge and one of the worg riders. The only one slower than even the worg riders is Imperius, who is promptly pelted with arrows by some of the tower snipers and one of the riders. He even gets a crit to the face (or shoulder, or whatever) and is down half his hit points before his turn even started. Time to turn invisible.

More shooting, potion drinking and some advancing for the hobgoblins, whilst Abnoba rampages through the horde. She barely misses the critical confirmation on a tower sniper who is thus “only” at -8. Luckily, she is the one not alone, with a bladebearer next to her, who begins feeding her a potion. Hisoka continues firing at the invisible dragon who promptly quaffs a healing potion. Not good that he can apparently still be seen by the guy with a bane infused bow! Pan, meanwhile, takes on the worg in front of him, who stands no chance against a full attack. Not dead, but out of the picture. Who is the predator now? The goblin tumbles down, missing his arrows due to feeble rolls. Imperius studies his spellbook once again, to swap in See Invisibility to bombard the dragon with another Fireball.

Round 3 begins with the two snipers in the back not rolling above 3 once again aaand we cut the session here, as it is not only Abnoba’s turn, but her player also has to leave, having already stayed a bit longer than originally planned. Too bad, but expected.

Thoughts

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Gosh, so many things to unpack. Let me vent for a moment, as I must confess some irritation here. The players seemed really intent on “bargaining” with Ozzy, which is probably due to my mentioning that (green) dragons can be reasoned with. It did not seem to occur to anybody that the dragon whose name was written on the map as guardian of the bridge (as they deduced) might already be involved in a deal with the hobgoblins. Like, what are you going to do, talk really, really fast and bribe him to betray his contract (assuming there is one) whilst in the middle of the very same people he has that contract with? Still, at least an hour if not two were spent on trying to formulate a plan to get to the dragon for some much needed Talking™, before giving up in frustration and charging in. And now, in conclusion, “my dragons” can supposedly not be reasoned with… GAH!

Add to that how I stressed that they could get some supplies multiple times before setting out and was then in turn blamed for them not knowing something was going to come up and being unprepared not only for a dragon, but also for destroying what turned out to not be a half-rotten rope bridge. When they went to destroy an old Dwarven bridge, with a name written in Draconic suggesting some guardian, at the very least (and suggested several times). Totally untelegraphed and unfair, who could have expected this? So everybody is angry, wonderful. I hope it was just one of those days…

Finally, I am also a bit bothered by Imperius completely stealing the know-show from everybody. Sure, he had superb rolls, but seeing how the character is (rightfully so!) all about maxing intelligence and related skills, it is a bit harsh that Hisoka, who has class features for it and invested a feat to boot, is basically always inferior in knowing monster details (never mind normal checks!), unless he rolls significantly higher. I do not believe the player minds it much right now, and I can only hope it stays this way. The same could be said for intimidating, but thankfully that is of limited usefulness.

Now, for the actual fight. I did add some more enemies, mostly worg riders for the worgs and a two-handed based bladebearer on a watchtower, just to add some difficulty to it. In comparison to the original campaign, it should also be that much harder simply because I have mostly stopped using regulars already, placing veterans in their stead. Going over the stats again, I am curious if the sergeant will be the first and last of his kind, as they are intended to be not too strong, but annoying combatants who rely on disarm and trip maneuvers. I honestly doubt that will work out as intended.

So I basically just gave up after all the fatalism concerning how hopeless things are and rolled with the surprise attack, no rolls to sneak or whatever involved, plus the retroactive buffing to hit after all for Hisoka. At the same time my fears were confirmed by the mere fact that they could instantly take over 50 hit points off Ozzy even with Abnoba hitting only once. This convinced me that he needs max hp.

The distance between both ends of the bridge turned out to be a real problem, as one cannot just cross it without devoting at least an entire round to it. Which is not bad at all, as that means everyone on the far side has some more time to buff up with potions, whilst the player characters can mostly deal with the troops on their side first without fear of being overwhelmed, particularly with Abnoba basically holding the bridge. From the players’ point of view there is still the possibility that it is booby-trapped, but I honestly did not consider it a sensible or interesting thing to do.

[Arkain]

Session 11

Potion war continued

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We jump right back into the action, with Abnoba and Rasputin fighting on the bridge. A slight problem is that many targets have since either dropped into negatives or simply dropped down to the floors of their tower hideouts, so they mostly focus on what is in front of them, a goblin, his worg mount and a couple goons further down the bridge. The rolls are not kind to them and said goons take the opportunity to retreat and take cover behind the towers. Ozzy does the same, disappearing behind the tower to heal and buff up some more. The bladebearer finishes healing his sniper comrade (who downs another healing potion for good measure) and is ready to resume buffing himself up. Hisoka considers moving up the towers, but it would take a good while, so instead he takes some more shots as well as he can, much like Pan who still has a worg rider to finish. Imperius is meta-frustrated due to the dragon hiding (as witnessed by Hisoka) just as he could have managed to see him.

Fast-forward a bit, buffs and healing happen, hobgoblins get up, Abnoba and Hisoka take them down, Imperius broods (and climbs a tower). Most importantly, the bladebearer on the tower has grown to large size and cannot even take cover properly anymore, provoking a shot by Hisoka. Shouting orders to give no quarter, he promptly jumps off the tower and sephiroths drop attacks Pan, hitting him for 34 damage. Pan is at exactly 0 hp, which might be worth some half-broken legs to the bladebearer (he did roll well and only took 5 damage, actually). This gets everyone’s attention in an instant.

A dismounted Abnoba sicks Rasputin on him, whilst Hisoka takes a shot which I narrate as curiously deflected from the hobgoblin – might be a Shield spell. Since this worked out poorly he approaches a bit, ready to heal Pan, who is limping towards him. Imperius seethes with rage as he not only rolls a 1 on his lightning lance exploit but his Magic Missile also harmlessly dissipates in front of the blabearer who promptly hits Rasputin for another 34 damage with an attack of opportunity, but fails to successfully counter with Calm the Storm, which means Rasputin tears him right open, as that tiny bit of fall damage takes its toll. After healing up a bit, Pan charges and gores the giant hobgoblin to death. Well, seems that the second one of these guys gets serious (or rolls well…), they are actually very dangerous after all!

Abnoba remounts Rasputin and without any healing whatsoever charges right into the fray way past the bridge and far towers and beyond the ambush squad who miss all their attacks. Meanwhile, Hisoka and Imperius see something everybody else can only hear.

Enter the dragon

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Ozzy has had enough (buffs and healing, that is) and flies over to the other side of the chasm. Fortunately, his movement speed falls just short of reaching the rest of the group without spending another action and so he hovers for a moment. Hisoka’s baned arrow misses and Imperius greets Ozzy with a fireball, taking another 28 hit points off. Ozzy introduces everyone to Entangling Exhalation, dealing a grand 2d6 damage (i.e. nothing, due to Resist Energy), but entangling everyone for 3 more rounds (he does need 6 to recharge, however). Cue some to-and-fro between mostly Hisoka and Ozzy, as the mage seems almost neutralized. Lots of fun insults are exchanged, with Hisoka missing every shot and Ozzy missing almost every bite. Good times. Magic Missile does nothing again, so an annoyed Imperius really gets into what he is going to do to the dragon’s corpse and forest, successfully demoralizing Ozzy for a moment there.

Insulted, the young dragon flies over to show the human his place. He grabs Imperius and asks him a very important question up high in the air. “What’s small, weak and can’t fly?” It’s raining mages, hallelujah! Imperius does manage to reduce the damage slightly by falling just right and landing on the tower’s outside stairs. Time to rethink his life decisions, laying there by himself. Beyond nettled, he tries another lightning lance. It was then that we learned it has a range of 30 feet. Oops. I tell him to save the good roll for later out of fairness, as we realized the problem only after the fact. He eventually decides to Dimensional Slides into the tower to heal up, as the dragon has no intent to leave him alone now.

Meanwhile on the other side of the bridge

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Abnoba and Rasputin rampage on the other side is a crowning success. Any attemps to disarm her fail, as do most attacks. The alchemist manages to successfully land a bomb attack on Abnoba, but that is roughly the extent of it all. Pan is also sent over, as he cannot reach the flying dragon anyhow, which makes things much worse for the hobgoblins. However, poor rolls abound, so it all takes a surprising amount of time. The last veteran tries to hightail it but gets charged and impaled by an enraged Pan. All three make their way back just in time for the climax.

Finale

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Just as Abnoba and Rasputin return, Ozzy lands, spurred on by the insult exchange (and a disappeared Imperius), daring Hisoka to put his sword where is mouth is and Bring. It. On. Hisoka obliges… and promptly misses his attack. He is however joined by Pan, who does not get eaten by the dragon due to the power of teamwork (feats). What follows is a bit of a slugfest, where Ozzy focuses many attacks on Hisoka, but fails to hit consistently, swatting the animal companions away with his wings all the while. Abnoba and Hisoka also miss their attacks, with the former always forgetting to use her Dead Aim deed just after she rolled her full attacks. Imperius hurries to the tower door and hurls his last lightning lance. Just after breathing another entangling exhalation (which the animal companions fortunately evade), Ozzy ends up at 5 hit points. Seeing himself outnumbered, the risk is too great for even his vanity and he flees, making his way away over the chasm. Abnoba charges after him on Rasputin but misses her shots. Ozzyrandion escapes, folding his wings in to dive into the torrents below.

Aftermath

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I actually bothered to roll for downed opponents and it just so turns out that three of the tower archers stabilized. The rest was either killed or bled out over the course of the rather long battle (at least 10 rounds). The survivors are taken prisoner for now, everything and everyone is looted, too. An enormous amount of potions is unearthed, most stemming from the alchemist. Abnoba also spots something in one of the tower roofs, which a short climb up reveals to be something of a dragon’s nest, with a good bunch of potions left. An empty wand of Shield and a not so empty one of Mage Armor are also found. A good haul all around. Inspecting the bridge reveals a weak point near one of the towers, too. Hisoka may be able to use his sword there to pry it loose and get the bridge to collapse. Thankfully, a living steel weapon regenerates such abuse easily.

Intending to rest in one of the towers, the group considers calling home (former PCs still exist after all) to order a cart to haul all the valuable equipment back to Drellin’s Ferry. Anything they cannot take, they will probably throw down the chasm just so the horde cannot use it. With everybody quite drained, we end it here, bridge still intact. The horde’s danger is palpable though, so further inspection of Cinder Hill is probably not required.

Thoughts

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Abnoba is best girl, plain and simple. To a large degree, she basically solo-ed parts of the entire scene, charging headlong into the action, shooting enemies left and right. Hell, if it had not been impossible to do, she probably would have just spurred Rasputin to jump over the chasm. Meanwhile, Imperius was limited by the few spells he had left after spending the second level on Resist Energy and Hisoka lived the 1 attack/round life. Such is the power of mounted archers.

What I think I did manage to impress mechanically is that the Red Hand is very dangerous, particularly when they stop rolling below 5. The bladebearer hitting for half a character’s hit points per attack was a good wake up call in that sense, I suppose. Abnoba’s player even remarked that in comparison to the last fight at Vraath Keep they might have been a bit spoiled, as the rolls really favored them there. Lots of critical hits and all that. I did note that I basically outright gave the fight to them, too. So yeah, be careful, war is dangerous!

On Ozzy’s escape, well, going over it again I noticed that Imperius had a fireball left after all, as his absurdly min-maxed intelligence allowed for another bonus spell. I shall address it next time, for fairness’ sake. I am rather glad he escaped, as a young, vain dragon who has been insulted in word and deed who will be back for vengeance is just delightful. If I bring him back much later it would also show some significant growth on the characters’ side when the formerly dangerous enemy is dealt with easily.

What worries me is the attitude the group is taking. Like, they gave the goblins that one chance to behave and be good goblins, but they did not obey. So from now on it is full on war where they will gleefully slaughter every last one of them in a mix of anger, cold blood and some prejudice. That kind of… misses the point I was trying to make. You know, the one that was supposed to go beyond “evil goblins worship evil deity and are evil”. On the other hand, that might as well make it all the more poignant.

Lastly, I mentioned in the last report how I was curious about the sergeant’s performance. Let us just say it was poor, as expected. So yeah, I either use them sparingly and expect nothing or I beef them up some more or change their purpose entirely.

[Arkain]

Session 12

Bye bye dwarf bridge!

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Before the session proper starts, I announce that apparently, Imperius had a third level spell left, so when they were trying to kill the fleeing dragon and he was distraught of his inability to blast him, he could have, so I offer a retcon. It is decided to keep things as they are.

We continue right where we left of, i.e. discussing the next steps. Everything seems properly looted, so Hisoka gets to it and slices the bridge in half with his katana uses his katana to loosen the parts they had discovered were in a sorry state of disrepair. The bridge begins to crumble, one stone follows another and soon it is gone. Not entirely, but sufficiently so that one will have to find another way or cross it via flight, say. Surely should have bought some time!

Next, a Sending is used to call the NPC faction of former PCs who still linger in Drellin’s Ferry, to bring a cart to transport all this loot back nobody can carry (at this point I do remind them that they have looted a bag of holding from Koth). The surviving hobgoblins who were originally meant to be interrogated are killed by Imperius, as nobody cares about their fate… or lives (lawful good, yo!). Time to rest and camp.

The next day, the group makes their way back to Drellin’s Ferry, upon which I remind them of the wood giant effigy, but after a short discussion they really do not wish to follow that path. Rather, because time is pressing and all they would prefer to get back to town. On their way back they meet Abimelech, Kiya and Tsukiko, the latter of which proceeds to hand Abnoba and Hisoka two bags with about 700 coins each, their “share” from the strongboxes they had taken from Vraath Keep. He also has the keep’s deed of ownership with him, unsure what to do with it. Hisoka takes it for safekeeping before they march on. Imperius jokes that they should look out for stray dragons flying about near the bridge.

Bigger than an outhouse, smaller than a tavern

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Back in town, the group goes through the motions. Some guards, they know each other, moving on. Soranna is their first stop, who is pleased to see them. News are shared, the dragon is not dead, yes, they won nevertheless and have destroyed most of the old bridge. Yes, quite sad about that bridge. How big was the dragon, though? Imperius notes “Bigger than an outhouse, smaller than a tavern.” which will become this session’s catchphrase. On to Avarthel, same procedure, same answer. The conversation turns out a bit deeper, as they discuss once more the nature of the entire conflict and, more importantly, whether the dragon was known. Avarthel certainly has never heard of any Ozzyrandion and was not even aware of any green dragons in the area proper or at least none who would have made any claims. Everyone can rest assured, the druids do not actually worship the dragon (NB: What even???).

On their way through the city they stop by the smithy, manned by Morlin Coalhewer. He greets the heroes who seem to be the talk of the town lately. But a dwarf gotta work and so he does, well knowing that an evacuation is ongoing. They basically exchange arrows, Abnoba trading an absurd amount of medium sized ones or small ones. He also mentions that he has something that might interest them, as, having heard of the threat of a goblin army, he prepared some goblinoid bane arrows (or arrow tips, rather), which he could fit onto shafts and sell for a decent price, if they would like. Similarly, if they are interested in weapon enhancements, he could do it for them, too. Delighted, the group promises to come back later, as Sertieren is waiting for them, if Soranna is to be believed.

At Sertieren’s, the mage is excited to see the group survived their encounter. The usual, once more. Turns out he has a gift for them, too, which he began making after hearing of their encounter. The group is handed a scroll of Communal Resist Energy. Should prove handy the next time a dragon comes about, Imperius could even copy it, if he likes. Asking if they felt unprepared, Imperius hands over his spellbook, upon which Sertieren and Imperius begin geeking out over spells, the former quite intrigued by various spells he has not encountered before in such capacity, like Defending Bone, and the latter glad he can look at another spellbook for a change. The arcane masters of Cheliax are a welcome target for mockery and so some unexpected bonding happens. I offer up the chance to copy what he wants, so Imperius seems to be staying for a while.

Back at Morlin’s, the bane arrows are ready, 15 total. Hisoka takes a few as well, should prove handy if he runs out of bane again. Norro Wiston is obviously happy they survived, the evacuation is going well so far, how big was the dragon, actually? The usual. With that out of the way, maybe some resting is in order? It has been an ordeal followed by a slow day, after all!

Thoughts

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This session was a spontaneous one, which was welcome, as right now schedules just do not seem to allow for a proper one, but oh boy, it did not run out of steam, it never had some to begin with. Very dreary overall, with no one truly caring for anything or anyone. I am wondering if I should take greater care about the lawful good Erastil worshipper.

What honestly annoys me is how having won some days through the destroyed bridge, the group insisted that everything is very urgent and then settled to do… nothing. They have no plans. No idea where to go next, after Drellin’s Ferry is properly evacuated and dealt with or what to do now. Weapon enhancements would be possible, as they have gotten some time and money, but realizing that they cost both, the interest seems to have waned quite a bit.

So instead of going on another adventure, they will probably just dawdle and waste the time they fought for and insisted was very precious. Not saying that is a bad thing to do or roleplay, but still, just fast forwarding to the next event in X days seems so sad.

As for my plans, I was going to have the reports about the roadblocks come in next, to give some incentive to visit Rhest, as right now I am afraid they will march straight to the Ghostlord… and die there. An attack on the town or two are also in order, though I am still unsure if I should have the chimera first or second or maybe just as part of a larger attack. Or maybe aided by manticores… Ozzy could also be involved here, for some revenge, though that might be nice in the assassination attempt, also. That said, I think the chimera will get the fiendish template, the smite might be terrifying and the resistances will certainly help keep it alive. I am actually wondering if upon having the town attacked, some of the more powerful people, like Morlin, should join the battle after a while, just to show that it is not just the player characters who fight back and can accomplish things.

Ever bizarre to me is how even back when it was just the two wilderness themed characters as participating players, the group just insisted on not going into the forest. Yet even when I give them a literal road to follow, they do absolutely abhor the idea. Sad, as the giants would have bought them even more time (allowing for a bloodless evacuation) and could have served as allies later. Maybe the Red Hand will recruit them now, who knows? I feel that at any rate the green world/fairy part of the plot I wrote in addition to it all is dead and gone at this point. And I wonder if it would be harsh to punish for it, as the idea was to get some reconciliation done, but instead the players have done nothing to that effect and do not intend to, as far as I can see. This could mean that if there was a “good ending” to begin with, they have botched it already. But again, maybe too harsh.

On the note of the former PCs half of the party, well, they have been sent to their deaths, with jokes about it, even. I think I shall bring them back as undead, with their abilities intact. Ignoring all the warnings about the slow speed of a wagon, the dangerous path and the army moving towards that very bridge should probably lead to something. At least they got the keep's deed, which could serve as a bargaining chip with Turio Vraath later.